"HOLD FAST"

Right now, as I type this, the words "Hold" and "Fast" are written in ink across the knuckles of my hands. "Hold" is on my right hand. "Fast" is on my left. I wrote them there, myself, last night, before our show at The Playground.

I was sitting in the house with my teammates, listening them chat about whatever was on their minds. With everyone else chatting about stuff, I was free to get the lay of the land. Looking around, I saw that it was going to be a light house. A small audience. And none of them were there to see us. It was going to be a rough night.

Small audiences aren't a bad thing, per se. They're a quiet thing. It almost seems as if they are aware of their small size and are loathe to laugh outloud at the things that amuse them. The only thing worse than a small house, is a small house of other improvisers. They sit, quietly in the dark, rethinking your moves and wishing that they were somewhere OTHER THAN the seat that they're in. Drawing a laugh out of them, can be harder than pulling teeth.

One half of our small audience, last night, were other improvisers.

Which made it not a "hostile" audience, so much as a quiet, cynical, hard-to-impress audience.

I had a feeling that it was going to be a difficult show. I asked Kathy if she had a pen on her and while they continued talking about rent and apartment searching, I wrote "Hold Fast" on my knuckles to remind myself to "hang onto" the show, as hard as I could. Because checking out early or playing with anything less than everything that I had, would surely lessen the show, for myself and for my team.

In ancient times, mariners used to get the words "Hold Fast" tatooed on their knuckles as a Good Luck Charm. It reminded them (and the other men around them) that sometimes, the sea is rough. Sometimes, it will knock you and your boat around and threaten to toss you overboard. Your only hope of survival, in those hard, terrifying times, is to hold fast to your ship and her rigging as hard as you can. Because oftentimes, a man overboard is a dead man. From exhaustion and drowing.

The same theory can be applied to Improv shows, I think. Sometimes, it's going to be rough out there. Confusing, messy, ugly, incoherent. These are the waves that buffet a show's one and only voyage. The only hope of regaining control of the ship and safely docking at your unknown destination is to hang onto the rigging (and each other) as tightly as possible and end the show, together.

Stay focused. Stay sharp. Keep listening. Catch opportunities, when they present themselves to you.

I don't know. The metaphor is very clear to me.
Maybe it is, to you, too.

This guy speaks a little bit more about the "Hold Fast" tatoo and shows pics of his getting one. (I hope he forgives me for posting one of his pics below.) Maybe it'll be a little more clear, when you read what he wrote about that particular tatoo.

Cheers,
Mr.B